The present invention relates generally to information handling systems and, in particular, to a system and method of creating and delivering software to the information handling systems.
When information handling systems, such as personal computers and the like, are mass-produced, a manufacturer may take advantage of a common software configuration when loading software onto the hard drives. For example, a computer system is set up as a model system having the desired software configuration that is to be duplicated in other personal computers. Once the model system has been set up, a digital image of the hard drive is created. The digital image is essentially a xe2x80x9cpicturexe2x80x9d of the hard drive. Creating a digital image of the hard drive is well known to those skilled in the art. Once this image is created, it is distributed to the other hard drives requiring the same configuration. The result is that all of the computer systems receiving a copy of the image during their manufacturing and assembly process will have the same hard drive content as the model system.
For software upgrades on existing computer systems, an image is created for a set of changes to be made to the hard drive and the set of changes are then transferred to the computer systems. This results in quicker computer upgrades, which in turn provides a cost savings, particularly when a large number of computer systems are to be upgraded.
Nonetheless, a disadvantage of this approach is that it requires a model system first be set up utilizing the same operating system and the same set of applications as desired on the other computer systems. To set up the model system, the software must be physically loaded from a disk onto the model computer system before the image can be created for transferring to the other computers.
Even if a group of computers are networked together, a baseline configuration must also be established on the file server which requires that the file server physically be set up with the desired software configuration from a disk. The file server then allows the networked computers to have access to the new configuration. Networking prevents a system administrator from having to install software upgrades individually on each computer system. However, the upgrade must first be made to the file server which requires installation via a disk.
Additionally, in the past, information handling systems, such as desk-top computer systems, laptops, personal digital assistants, digital information appliances, and the like, were sold with little or no software. Therefore, the tasks of obtaining, installing and configuring software were left to the purchaser. However, in the ever increasingly competitive environment of the manufacture and sale of information handling systems, manufacturers generally provide hardware and software in a combined system that preferably, is usable out of the box. Further complicating this process is xe2x80x9cbuild to orderxe2x80x9d computer systems. In build to order information handling systems, the customer may be given a wide selection of software from which to choose. The complexity and sheer number of choices result in essentially a custom configuration, the complexity of which is greatly increased with each choice or option given to the consumer.
One method utilized to address this problem involved extracting a hard drive from the assembly process, connecting the hard drive to a computer for the purpose of programming the drive, programming the drive, disconnecting the drive from the computer and returning the programmed hard drive to the computer assembly process for installation on a computer. However, this method is time consuming and, therefore costly. Furthermore, disconnection and reconnection of the programmed hard drive may corrupt the software programmed onto the drive.
An additional method utilized to address this problem involved loading the hard drive from a network after the computer hardware is assembled. However, this method results in high traffic on the network. In a large-volume manufacturing environment, this high traffic greatly reduces the throughput of the network. In essence, the greater the number of systems to be manufactured, the greater the requirement of network throughput. Furthermore, a network failure may interrupt and even cripple the entire manufacturing line.
Another method utilized to address this problem involved a parallel manufacture of a custom hardware configuration and software configuration. Hardware was built and software was written to a CD-ROM. The hardware system was then booted and software loaded to the system from the CD-ROM, after which the system was tested. However, this requires selective installation on the CD-ROM from a comprehensive software library located elsewhere on a network. Thus, the requirement of network resources and throughput limits are encountered again. Additionally, the use of that CD-ROM is limited to the computer system for which the CD-ROM was configured. Thus, a great number of CD-ROMs had to be created for each new configuration desired.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an improved method for configuring software for a build to order system.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a method for configuring software for a build to order system. In a first aspect of the present invention, a method of building a custom software configuration includes receiving a plurality of requests for desired software configurations. At least one baseline configuration is identified corresponding to the desired software configuration. At least one baseline configuration is then compared with the desired software configuration. A set of changes are then created based on the comparison, wherein the set of changes are suitable for combining with the baseline configuration to generate the desired software configuration. At least one baseline configuration and set of changes are stored on a removable medium, the removable medium suitable for loading a plurality of desired software configurations corresponding to the requested plurality of desired software configurations.
In a second aspect of the present invention, a method of building a custom software configuration includes receiving a first request for a first desired software configuration and a second request for a second desired software configuration. The first desired software configuration being different than the second desired software configuration. At least one software configuration corresponding to at least one of the first desired software configuration and the second desired software configuration is identified. Wherein, at least one software configuration is suitable for generating the first desired software configuration and the second desired software configuration. The software configuration is then stored on a removable medium, the removable medium suitable for loading the first desired software configuration and the second desired software configuration.
In a third aspect of the present invention, a method of building a custom software configuration includes receiving a first request for a first desired software configuration and a second request for a second desired software configuration, the first desired software configuration being different than the second desired software configuration. At least one baseline configuration corresponding to at least one of the first desired software configuration and the second desired software configuration is identified. The at least one baseline configuration is compared with the first desired software configuration and the second desired software configuration. A set of changes are created based on the comparison wherein the set of changes are suitable for combining with the at least one baseline configuration to generate the first desired software configuration and the second desired software configuration. The at least one baseline configuration and set of changes are stored on a removable medium, the removable medium suitable for loading the first desired software configuration and the second desired software configuration.
In a fourth aspect of the present invention, a method of building a custom software configuration includes receiving a first customer order for a first information handling system and a second customer order for a second information handling system. The first customer order including a first list of hardware configuration components and a first list of software configuration components and the second customer order including second list of hardware configuration components and a second list of software configuration components. At least one of the first list of hardware configuration components is different from the second list of hardware configuration components and the first list of software configuration components is different from the second list of software configuration components. At least one software configuration is stored on a removable medium, the at least one software configuration suitable for loading at least one of the first list of software configuration components and the second list of software configuration components onto at least one of the first information handling system and the second information handling system.
It is to be understood that both the forgoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention as claimed. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate an embodiment of the invention and together with the general description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.